Building a Grimoire

Biz News - New pipes posted! There are two new Talbert Briar sandblasts and three new Ligne Bretagnes, one of which is cool and green.

Today's pic is of an old favorite of mine that just got a new facelift - This was the first "expensive" pipe I bought when I started getting interested in pipes, and I still recall the trepidation I had over spending that whopping $75 for a Peterson system pipe, instead of the usual basket pipes I'd been smoking. I'm going to make a post on Smokers' Forums about it sometime tomorrow, probably, but I wanted to go ahead and toss the pics up so I could link to them.

I've begun assembling a grimoire.

My memory has never been the greatest, and in recent years I've been all too conscious of that old silly saying, that I can't remember all I know. Stuff goes in and either falls out the other ear, or gets lost in the inner-brain info-murk and I can't recall it when I need it. After the xillionth time of staring at an annoying pipe problem and being certain that I had something like this happen around two years ago, but now I can't remember how I fixed it then, I've finally decided to try and create a central assemblage of what I've learned about pipemaking.

So far, this process looks something like a delivery truck full of notepads has exploded in a stain factory - My workshop desk is totally covered in notes written on scraps of paper over the years, and I'm gradually going through and deciding what goes into the grimoire and what gets ejected. My idea is to document various sets of processes that I've found to be solid and reliable, in all areas of pipemaking from drilling to staining to sandblasting, and even touching on related subjects such as tips for better photography and website editing.

My hope is that it will give me a handy reference - if I want to make a stain that shifts from one color to another down the length of a pipe, I'll be able to quickly refer to what I found to be the best way a few years ago, and follow my own instructions. Once it's mostly assembled, I'll hand copy it out of my spiral notebook and into something leather-bound and black and sinister-looking, and hoard it. Muahahahaha! (Actually, the idea of adding some enjoyable text and illustrations and self-publishing it had crossed my mind, but I suspect the effort would be far more work than the proceeds would pay for, from the five people on earth who would buy it...)